Police have arrested 14 people as part of an ongoing investigation into the Comancheros.
On Tuesday, police executed over 40 search warrants on properties across several districts, including Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Canterbury, and the Southern district.
It was the third phase of the lengthy probe into the gang, and follows an earlier raid on the Comancheros in Christchurch.
Detective Superintendent Greg Williams, director of the National Organised Crime Group, described the investigation as complex and ongoing.
Further arrests are expected as the investigation continues.
The Comancheros also have a presence in New Zealand. Photo / File
The Comancheros are an Australian motorcycle club which established a chapter in New Zealand six years ago when a small, but influential, group was deported as “501s” by Australian authorities.
Every single patched member of the Christchurch chapter was arrested following Operation Avon, an eight-month investigation into alleged drug dealing.
Police allege the gang moved about $15m of meth and cocaine from Auckland to Christchurch (where the price of meth is higher) every few weeks.
Around 5kg of drugs were seized, along with 11 firearms and ammunition, as well as $250,000. Police also restrained $1.9m of assets, including 11 vehicles.
One of those arrested is a senior member of the hierarchy based in Auckland, whose name is suppressed.
“These groups have no hesitation in peddling drugs and accumulating vehicles and property, with no regard for the destruction they cause in everyday New Zealanders’ lives,” Detective Inspector Darrin Thompson said last week.
“We have no doubt that this disruption of the Comanchero gang will have a positive impact on the drug supply chain across the country.”
All the criminal charges laid are unproven allegations at this stage.
But the latest raids are the latest in a series of covert investigations targeting the Comancheros for money laundering or drug offending in the past five years.
The arrival of the Australian gangs led to a radical shift within the criminal underworld, with far larger importations of methamphetamine and cocaine, as well as gang conflict such as tit-for-tat shootings and arson.
Since then, detectives in the National Organised Crime Group have relentlessly targeted the Comancheros in a series of covert investigations into money laundering or large-scale drug offending.
Even though most of their founding members are currently in prison, or deported back to Australia in one case, the “Comos” have kept growing in size and influence.
Social media has been one of their most effective recruiting tools.
They are one of a number of gangs who have taken to posting content online to portray their strength in numbers, flaunt their wealth, or poke fun at law enforcement.
The most recent police investigations now mean that nearly every senior member of the Comancheros is in prison for drug dealing or money-laundering offences, or is facing active prosecutions.
Jared Savage is an award-winning journalist who covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006, and is the author of Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.
